bernards66 wrote:Doug, Well, the QED soap is a good case in point. It has little cushion, little lubrication, so it cuts very 'fast'. Something like Cremo Cream, or even Nancy Boy has a lot of lubrication and cushion, and cuts much 'slower'.

Gordon, could you explain what you mean by cushion and lubrication? To my mind, lubrication makes things glide easier and faster (e.g., the lubricant that Chevy Chase applied to the snow dish in "Christmas Vacation"). But you say that creams with little lubrication cut faster than those with more.

And could you explain the relationship between cushion and lubrication, and give some examples of creams that have one or the other attribute (or both)?

For a soap that offers lubrication with not much in the way of cushioning, Gold Dachs/Rivivage reigns supreme for me. In fact, I tend not to use it on a brand new Feather blade.

For something that offers cushioning and lubrication, Mitchell's Wool Fat is a great example. In fact, the way I've been mixing it up lately, it's TOO CUSHIONING for use with a DE, but the Feather AC laughs at the lather and makes it disappear. I need to add a bit more water to use it with a DE.

Absolutely everything we use should be lubricating enough to shave with comfortably, unless we add too much water, or whip it into something as stiff as a meringue. For some products, its easier to do this with than others. For me, for example, Eshave products get very stiff unless I take care. Aside from this, though, I don't worry too much about how lubricating a product is.

Scott, you are correct. I sometimes forget when I'm about to use a DE (which is probably why I mentioned above that slickness doesn't matter). I make a lather with Mitchell's you could stand a spoon in, but then have trouble getting the razor to cut at all. It just goes over the skin and clogs the razor quickly. Perfect for the Feather AC though, you are right there.

Yes, slickness is needed for a DE mainly due to all the extra metal touching your skin and for the comfort factor.

Dave, Yeah, that's pretty much it. A lather that cuts 'fast' means there's little in the way of a protective layer between the blade and your skin. Using just water is the fastest cut of all, but, the blade will tend to skip, and you'll probably get irritation, as there is no lubrication and no protection. Lather from shave soaps, like those opaque glycerine numbers have more water and less lubrication, hence they cut fast or close, but don't have much cushion. Heavy brushless creams work on lubrication entirely, no water. So they cut very slow, ie, not very close. If you don't believe me, try one of the Kiehl's creams some time ( chuckle ). So, either end of this spectrum could be considered as 'slippery' or 'slick', depending on how one is defining or understanding those terms. This is why I, personally, don't like to use them; too ambiguous.
Regards,
Gordon

rustyblade wrote:Scott, you are correct. I sometimes forget when I'm about to use a DE (which is probably why I mentioned above that slickness doesn't matter). I make a lather with Mitchell's you could stand a spoon in, but then have trouble getting the razor to cut at all. It just goes over the skin and clogs the razor quickly. Perfect for the Feather AC though, you are right there.

Yes, slickness is needed for a DE mainly due to all the extra metal touching your skin and for the comfort factor.

The first time I noticed this, BTW, was with the Valobra Shave stick. I was on the road with a DE, as I was flying with no checked baggage. I pulled the shave stick from my kit, worked up a lather with the SMF III (my first SMFIII/Valobra Shave stick combo), and pretty much couldn't get blade to face until I added much more water. Fine shave, though, with the Feather.

For some reason, lathers this thick with a cream aren't the same experience.

James, Yeah, I've heard that it's good, and their hard shave soaps too, but they are basically unavailable in North America. Someone was going to send me one of their soaps, but he never got around to it.
Regards,
Gordon

My main soaps are T&H Luxury, Mitchell's Wool Fat, and QED Lime. I find with the QED that I get a closer shave, with possibly less irritation than I do from the others.

This would be in agreement with the premise that QED is "fast-cutting." On the other hand, it doesn't seem less protective than anything else I use. At the very least, it would have to have good lubricity for this result, and my impression is that it has some cushion as well.

I use about the same amount of water with the QED as I do with the other soaps (perhaps a tiny bit more), and I get a dense lather from all of them.

I have used the Billy Jealousy Hydroplane super slippery is the absolute for slick performance. I have never had anything that dropped the coefficient of friction as much as this product. It is expensive but a dime sized dab will shave the toughest beard. Hope this helps!